Lam suggests providing subsidies for children with therapy needs

Agnes Lam

The office of lawmaker Agnes Lam has received 319 cases of complaints and calls for assistance from local residents, most of them involving the region’s infrastructure.

Yesterday, Lam’s party list, Civic Watch, officially opened its office in a bid to cater to residents seeking the office’s assistance.

According to Lam, the number of cases received between October 2017 and April 2018 was unexpected, thus implying that the office would serve as a much-needed platform to reach out to the locals.

“The number of cases is more than I thought. Originally, before we opened the office, I didn’t think people would find us,” the lawmaker told the press on the sidelines of the office’s opening ceremony.

“Most of the cases we are dealing with [are] related to the [city‘s] infrastructures. More or less about city environment and about people’s residential [environment],” she explained.

Apart from the cases that involve road construction and medical issues, Lam noted that several families are seeking assistance on obtaining speech therapy or occupational therapy for their children.

“I help a big group of families who have children that [need] speech therapy or occupational therapy. I arrange meetings [with the government] and help tackle individual cases,” said the legislator.

According to Lam, these parents find it challenging to seek such services due to the lack of professionals, and she thus suggested Macau create a scheme that will provide subsidies to these families to seek treatment in the neighboring regions.

“They can’t really seek enough help in the local system. The government is trying hard to get resources but since we don’t have enough professionals and [services], we may need another kind of intervention to help them,” Lam said.

Another significant issue that the office is working on is the accountability of government officials.

Lam noted that she has submitted an inquiry to the government on how they could revise the law to assure that those who are in elected positions are accountable.

Some cases sent to the Civil Watch office also involve seeking assistance on apartment purchasing.

“Part of [the overall number of] cases are settled already. It takes a special kind of negotiation and coordination with the government” she explained. Lam said many of the cases are still undergoing this process.

“With some of the cases, we do some kind of mediation, and [help] two parties to reach a solution,” Lam added.

Civic Watch pledged during the campaign period last September that it would call on the government to improve the standard of medical care, urging the government to formalize guidelines for medical procedures.

The list also called for improvements to the existing mixed education systems, along with ensuring that students with special education needs are provided for, and suggested that the government review the subsidization scheme for teaching aid purchases, to promote inclusive education.